She threw her arms round his neck, declaring that never was anybody so good as he was, and "was he not also very fond of the Madonna?"
This was going from bad to worse, and he thought that the only thing to be done was to put an end to the conversation, so, without answering her question, he said, "Come, carina, we must go and tell il babbo to get ready."
"But is not il signore very fond of the Madonna?" she repeated with childish persistence.... How constantly he was tempted to tell her that all this was false, and try to teach her something nearer to truth, but he was always stopped by the thought that he himself could not explain clearly to her what truth was, and that when he left Capri he would only have rendered her unhappy, and different from all her own people; thus her faith in the Madonna and the Saints remained untarnished. Surely his good angel must have been whispering in his ear when he refrained from saying a disparaging word upon a subject which naturally irritated him, and which was so often brought before him by Anina in her lively affection for the Madonna. After a few moments' hesitation he replied, "We must ever love all that is good and beautiful, just as one loves you, carina, as long as you are such a dear, good little child...."
"But il signore will go away some day, and then he will forget Anina," she said, looking up gravely at him.
"Ah, carina, you will be more likely to forget than I shall. You will have other and dearer ones to love you, while I——," he stopped suddenly, and muttered in English, "What a fool I am making of myself!" Letting go Anina's hand, he walked on quickly, saying, "Here is il babbo." She stood still for a moment looking at him with a puzzled air, then away she ran to tell her mother that il signore had promised to bring her a beautiful Madonna from Napoli.
Mr. Earnscliffe told Paolo to have the boat ready in about half an hour, as he wished to go to Naples, and as the wind was so fair he preferred to sail rather than to take the steamer.
In this visit to Naples he had no fixed plan of action; he had not even determined whether he would call on any of his acquaintances there, yet he had a vague notion that in some way or other he would see Mr. Lyne, although at the same time he had not the slightest idea of how he was to gain any information from him. He could not ask him a single question about what was uppermost within him, yet he could not rest without making an effort in that direction. Suddenly it occurred to him that the Eltons might know something about it. He recalled the day at the Catacombs, thought of Mary Elton's eagerness to tell him that Flora was going to be married to Mr. Lyne; perhaps she might now be equally ready to tell him why the marriage had not taken place. It was possible that she might not know, but it was a chance, and so he would try to find out their address and call upon them.
As soon as he arrived in Naples he went to the Hotel de la Grande Bretagne, and asked if Mr. Caulfield and Mr. Lyne were staying there.
"Yes," answered the waiter, "but they are out. Will the signore leave a card?"
"It is unnecessary," replied Mr. Earnscliffe, "as I shall probably meet them; but perhaps you can give me some information about an English family of the name of Elton, who have been in Naples for the last two or three weeks?"